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'Limited evidence' that Dunfermline Delivers

Ally McRoberts • Published 10 Feb 2012 09:00 Mobiles Print Comments 7 Comments

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THERE is "limited evidence" that Dunfermline Delivers is working, a new report has claimed.

An independent study has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the company brought in to breathe new life into the city centre.

And it suggests businesses who pay a levy to Dunfermline Delivers are not getting value for money from the near £400,000 spent on 'events'.

The report states, "Overall the general view seems to be that Dunfermline is performing well in difficult circumstances and has continued to hold up well compared to some other towns during an unprecedented economic downturn.

"The activities of Dunfermline Delivers may have assisted Dunfermline to maintain performance but there is limited evidence to suggest this is down to any particular projects, although the Safer Towns programme may well be having a positive impact on the evening economy."

However, the company's bosses are not happy either, stating they are kept in the dark on major plans for the city centre and do not always receive "full co-operation" from Fife Council, which is a partner and major funder.

Dunfermline Delivers, whose chief executive Susan Hughes announced last week she was leaving the post, is the company behind the business improvement district (BID) and began life in the summer of 2009.

The independent evaluation was carried out on its first two years of operation and discussed by councillors at the City of Dunfermline area committee yesterday (Wednesday).

There was general acceptance that the BID was a good idea and a levy-payer survey showed that eight per cent rated Dunfermline Delivers' progress as 'poor' or 'unacceptable', 48 per cent said it was 'good' or 'excellent' and 25 per cent refused to answer this question.

The report noted, "Whilst this is encouraging, it suggests there is still some way to go to convince levy-payers of the value of the BID."

It did acknowledge that falling crime statistics, Bruce Festival visitor surveys and initiatives such as the floral enhancement scheme, taxi marshals and the Safer Towns programme were all positive moves for Dunfermline.

But the report also said, "It is relatively straightforward to say that the BID is delivering the projects set out in its business plan but it is much more difficult to secure meaningful evidence of whether this is actually having any impact on the trading environment and performance of the town centre i.e. has it improved the retail mix, has it changed the perception and image, has it attracted more people to use the town centre?"

The spotlight also fell on the £394,250 - over half of its total spend to the end of September 2011 - splashed out on events such as the fireworks, the Bruce Festival and the Christmas lights event, which were traditionally run by Fife Council.

During the same time period the company also spent £207,466 on admin costs, including staff and office expenses, which amounted to more than a quarter of overall expenditure.

As a result, Dunfermline Delivers was "criticised for delivering some events which do not strongly benefit BID levy-payers" and the report added, "It is understood that events are well received by the public but with limited evidence to support their impact on the town centre, the issue of whether activity and spend is perhaps currently too skewed towards events is raised."

It continued, "Whilst overall progress and specific achievements are acknowledged, there is perhaps a slight sense of disappointment that it has not been possible to move faster and further to effect change to the town centre.

"It is recognised that it has a difficult job, especially in the current economic climate, but some perceive Dunfermline Delivers to be concentrating on a similar range of projects as the previous town centre management company."

Fife Council has committed to spending another £284,000 for the next two years - it gave out £462,500 between June 2009 and March 2012 - but the report said there was a belief that the company was "over-reliant" on local authority funds.

And it warned that "the current level of funding to Dunfermline Delivers is not sustainable in the longer term".

Michael Moloco, chairman of Dunfermline Delivers, said, "We are pleased that the overall conclusions of the report are positive despite the fact that we've been working against the backdrop of one of the worst recessions most of us can remember.

"We're delivering to business plan but nevertheless we recognise that we still have a lot of hard work to do and remain entirely focused on delivering value for BID levy-payers.

"When Dunfermline Delivers was established there was little data available to give us a baseline against which to measure improvements but we are working with Fife Council to introduce an evaluation and monitoring framework.

"We are, however, able to measure the outcomes of our bigger events and we know from independent research that the Bruce Festival and fireworks generate a significant financial boost the town.

"Naturally how this filters down from business to business will vary and this is reflected in some of the opinions expressed in the report.

"It's down to us to work with business owners in Dunfermline to ensure that we develop a portfolio of events and activities that deliver as much value as possible to every sector in the town."

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